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A NASCAR insider revealed that 23XI could be getting Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst in the 2025 Cup Series championship. He is speculated to drive a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing.
SHR announced that they will cease their Cup Series operations at the end of the current season and will sell off their charters. Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing have been a speculated buyer for one of their charters for the next season. Currently, they run Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick in the #23 and #45 Toyotas Camrys.
NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass wrote in his FOX column that the team might consider bringing in Riley Herbst for his full-time Cup Series debut. He currently races in the Xfinity Series, driving the #98 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.
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"With the team already having a Monster Energy relationship, adding Riley Herbst and his Monster deal would make sense. Corey Heim is the team's driver of the future, but he might be a year or two away from being fully Cup ready," Pockrass wrote.
Currently, Bubba Wallace does not have a contract for next season, but he is expected to continue with the team. His teammate Tyler Reddick has a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs, but Denny Hamlin feels Wallace has different goals to fulfill to qualify.
23XI owner Denny Hamlin claims Bubba Wallace needs to beat Joey Logano to qualify for Playoffs
23XI's Tyler Reddick is in a good position to qualify for the Playoffs this year with one race win (at Talladega) and three stage wins. However, his teammate in the other Toyota has not won a single race so far in the season and is also regularly dropping in and out of the top sixteen.
Denny Hamlin, discussing the situation on the Actions Detrimental podcast stated that it is important for them to remain ahead of Joey Logano in the upcoming races. He said:
"You always have to count on one more freak winner that’s outside the cut, in which case, then Buescher becomes the next guy above the cut line. He’s substantially ahead of Logano and Bubba. That’s where you have to look at it and say okay, we have to not get unlucky first and then we got to go beat Joey for the next seven/eight weeks." [21:40]
Joey Logano is currently in 14th place with 430 points meanwhile Bubba Wallace is right behind with 417 points. Defeating the #22 Ford would mean that the latter has a better chance of qualifying in the playoffs. This would also get both the 23XI cars into the top 16 of the championship.
